Meltdown No. 1: Nine turnovers that led to 44 points, including three interceptions brought back for touchdowns.

Meltdown No. 2: On special teams, the Cougars had a muffed punt (Dewayne Peace) that led to a touchdown, a fumble on a kickoff (Ryan Jackson) that was returned for a touchdown and another fair catch punt bounced off a player's foot (Luke Stice) when nobody should have been near the ball.

Meltdown No. 3: The defense, hurt by bad field position throughout the game, made stops but not nearly enough. It ended up having a co-starring role in How Garrett Gilbert Got His Groove Back

Not only did UH set a school record for most points allowed, the Cougars might have lost quarterback David Piland, who left the game just before halftime with a concussion. Piland is listed as day-to-day, a UH athletic spokesman said Friday, and his status for the Oct. 27 game against UTEP is uncertain.

"Oh, I am so disappointed … 2 TD just like that," UH president Renu Khator wrote on her personal Twitter account at halftime. "Piland hurt, hard to watch."

Perhaps 140 characters weren't enough to convey her true feelings.

Levine was slightly more forthcoming.

"You can't turn the ball over nine times in a game and expect to win," he said. "You can't have selfish and foolish penalties and expect to win. You can't have dropped passes and expect to win."

Penalties. Dropped passes. An embarrassing loss. Where have UH fans heard that before? Hint: It begins with Texas and ends with State.

At the beginning of the season, Levine issued a warning that this team would be in transition.

For all the early blunders, the Cougars' chances didn't go up in flames until the final minutes of the first half. With the game tied at 14, SMU scored on one of Gilbert's career-high four touchdown passes and, with the Cougars pinned near their end zone following a holding call on the kickoff, Piland had an interception returned for a TD.

Key sequence seals fate

Thirty-one points in the span of five minutes between the end of the second quarter and early third quarter. Wasn't this the same SMU that looked like My Little Pony in an embarrassing loss to then-winless Tulane a week earlier?

The UH defense, which registered just one sack and one hurry on Gilbert, allowed drives of 75, 92, 75 and 75 yards. The Mustangs' other 12 possessions produced 67 yards in 28 plays.